Indian origin researcher working to beat multi drug resistant bacteria

New Delhi, March 25: Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have developed novel peptide-like analogs or peptoids that have the similar antimicrobial properties as peptides but more robust.

The discovery, paves the way for creation of new generation antibiotics that can defeat the so called multi-drug resistant bacteria “superbugs”.

Like proteins, peptides are chains of amino acids that participate in the metabolic system of living organisms and the immune system.

They are the first line of defence against a broad range of pathogens, and are released by the body in the earliest stage of infection.

These peptides are attractive antimicrobials. However, they degrade in the body and have short half-life.

Rinki Kapoor along with her PhD advisor and professor Annelise Barron of Stanford University studied novel mimics of antimicrobial peptides or peptoids for their antibacterial activity against multi-drug resistant bacteria, also known as superbugs.

In one of their studies, they showed that peptoids kill resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one of the leading bug causing hospital associated infections.

The group synthesised seven different peptoids and compared their activity with three different antibiotics.

In a separate study, Kapoor and Barron also revealed that peptoids kill resistant Mycobacteria, bacteria responsible for causing Tuberculosis, a leading cause of death worldwide. In this study, published in the journal of antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy (AAC), they evaluated the efficacy of six different peptoids against Mycobacteria.

“These molecules are currently under research and development and merit further studies to investigate their potential as new class of drugs for treating resistant bacterial infections,” Kapoor told reporters. (IANS)

A new toilet recently installed in a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh. VOA

A lack of proper school toilets threatens the health, education and safety of at least 620 million children around the world, the charity WaterAid said in a new study published Friday.

Children at 1 in 3 schools lack access to proper toilets, putting them at risk of diarrhea and other infections and forcing some to miss lessons altogether, according to the study, based on data from 101 countries.

Guinea-Bissau in West Africa has the worst school toilets while Ethiopian children fare worst at home, with 93 percent of homes lacking a decent toilet according to the report, released ahead of World Toilet Day on Monday.

Students arrive for class at the Every Nation Academy private school in the city of Makeni in Sierra Leone, April 20, 2012. VOA

“The message here is that water and sanitation affect everything,” WaterAid spokeswoman Anna France-Williams told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “If there’s no toilet in schools, children will miss lessons and it will have an impact on their growing up.”

Diarrhea, infection risk

A lack of proper sanitation puts millions of children around the world in danger of diarrhea, which kills 289,000 children younger than 5 a year, WaterAid said.

But some regions have started to clean up their act, notably South Asia, where access to toilets in schools has improved.

More than half the schools in Bangladesh now have access to decent toilets, while students in 73 percent of schools in India and 76 percent of those in Bhutan can access basic sanitation.

Akramul Islam, director of water, sanitation and hygiene at the Bangladeshi charity BRAC, said the country’s once-high levels of open defecation — using open ground rather than toilets — were now less than 1 percent.

India’s plight in sanitation has not improved much since ages.Pixabay

“Today, schools have separate toilets for girls and boys and the issue of menstrual hygiene is also being addressed,” he said. “This has happened because of initiatives taken by both the government, the NGOs and other stakeholders.”

Despite the improvements, more than a third of the girls in South Asia miss school for one to three days a month during their period, WaterAid said, urging greater investment in basic sanitation.

“If we are serious about all children and young people, wherever they are, whatever their gender, physical ability or community background, having their right to clean water and sanitation, we must take decisive and inclusive action now,” said Chief Executive Tim Wainwright. (VOA)